OCTOBER 3, 2017: SKUNKED AGAIN

October 3, 2017

SKUNKED AGAIN

In anticipation of a light wind night, I brought a buoy to use as an alternate windward mark.  I was surprised when we came out of the harbor and there seemed to be plenty of wind: but would it hold? We ambitiously chose the course to finish the race at Mile.  We gave a 5 minute horn at 5:55 and it was almost as if the wind gods took the signal and the wind started to decline with the blowing of the horn.  Boats were spread all over the place on both sides of the start line and when the 5 minute count down expired, many of the boats headed outside while some of us took the inside line.  The boats on the outside seemed to be doing pretty well after they tacked back in toward mile and Tara was leading the charge on the “inside boats”.  In the end the wind died and one by one boats called in saying they were retiring.  Some people hung out to the end and finished.  Odonata reported that they finished at 7:25!  We were treated to a wonderful sunset with a hint of a green flash!

THE GREEN FLASH:

I have always been intrigued with the concept of the green flash.  I thought that the green flash would wipe out all of the normal pink in the sky and it would all turn green for a very brief moment. I learned tonight that the green flash is a small area about the width of the sun that hovers over the horizon for just a moment just as the last edge of the sun disappears.  I actually did see this on this night, but did not realize it until Fred explained it to me.

THE FUTURE:

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the growth of our fleet this year. I feel we have a lot of potential for future growth next year.   This growth, while exciting, has caused me a lot of frustration.  Gone are the days when we had 3 to 6 boats out.  It was easy to record finishes and report the race with fewer boats.  I have done my best to record finishes, frequently hanging around the finish mark until the last boat finishes.  Replaying the race later as I write the blog, I have had problems recognizing the names of boats (my writingL) and because of this have been guilty of leaving some of the boats out of the finish sequence.  Sometimes I am back in the pack and cannot see the sequence of the finish and taking reports from different boats as to who was winner has been fraught with conflict.

 On top of these other frustrations, the fact that some boats “play loose” with the start line drawing even more boats over the line adds to my personal frustration.  Last week, I announced I was going to site the line and not a single boat was OCS, so I know it can be done.  If we were having a foot race and a competitor consistently started 50 yards ahead of everyone else, how long would the foot races last before competitors stopped coming?  

is an embarrassment to me as we have new boats joining us to have the start line played so loosely.  They come out because they have heard that there is more organization on Tuesday nights. They have course cards delineating the start line and find boats all over the place on both sides of the line. This is not just my perspective, others are complaining also.  On this night there were easily 3-4 boats OCS from my estimate NOT siting the line. What does this say about our group?  I really do not want our group turning into just a social event where nobody observes the rules.  What can be learned in such an environment? Rules dictate that if you are over the start line early, you must turn back and go through the start line again.  This is a huge penalty when there are 18 boats on the line, but must be done to exonerate yourself and be part of the race.

There have been people that have suggested we should set up a line complete with a committee boat to site the line and record finishes.  Another suggestion has been to have a ‘sheriff’ boat sail outside of the line to site it and report OCS instances.  This means that this sheriff boat would be given a distinct disadvantage and in essence is not racing on the night they are acting as sheriff.

Where are we now and where do we want the fleet to be in the future?  I am encouraged to see so many boats out but find it impossible to keep track of all of the boats.  What is the answer?  I believe the answer to all of these problems is to use current technology!  We have talked about the FREE app that can be loaded onto any cell phone call Race Qs. 

Once you have downloaded this FREE app, you can preset the start for 5:55 to record the start.  You place the phone face up near the centerline of your boat with the top of the phone pointed toward the bow of your boat. Make certain the phone is in a position where it will not slip out of place.  I mounted a wood strip in my chart table to hold my phone in place. The app will record your position and every movement of your boat. Once done with the race, you must upload the track and can study it later on the web site.  It is an incredible learning tool, showing how well you are steering and how efficient your tacks are.  Each time you tack, there is a white dot you can click on that opens to show 8 different parameters of that tack.  You can compare your tack against the winning boats and learn from their example.  This app will also record the location of every boat at every point during the race and accurately record the sequence of the finish.  The app allows installation of start and finish lines, so there would be no guessing about any of these issues.  In essence, race QS becomes the regatta committee!

Several of us are planning on using this app this coming Tuesday. We will show it on the TV for the last BBQ on Halloween night.   I encourage you to download and use the app this Tuesday.

OTHER REGATTAS:

The next series of SCYC regattas will be the midwinter races. It would be great to have at least 3 of our jib and main boats to constitute a class for this race.  If three of us do not register, there is talk of incorporating us into the spinnaker boats with a PHRF allowance of 12 seconds a mile.  This means if your PHRF is 180 and we are in the spinnaker class, we would be assigned a PHRF of 192 FOR THIS SERIES.   It goes without saying that we should all get a current PHRF certificate.  This certificate takes all of the specifics of your boat into consideration: folding prop, spinnaker or not, max size of your jib etc.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice